Riley Caster: Shapeshifting Warrior
by X.Anime.Glambert.Music.Alien.X
Summary: Riley Caster has never lived a normal life and now her and her "family" are being hunted by mad scientists who want to kill them. When she later finds out that the reason they are being hunter might lead back to a childhood friend who is a lot like her, Riley doesn't know what to think. Will they die or survive? (FYI: Maximum Ride and the flock don't come in until around chapter 9)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I was blessed. I was cursed. To me: both are good things. I guess normal people would think otherwise. What I mean by that is: normal human beings wouldn't think that the adrenaline rush of having guns pointed at you, getting trapped in a building that's on fire, getting in violent fights, and having huge boulders hurled toward you is a good thing. I ,on the other hand, loved it. I have "danger" as my middle name. So did my other shape shifting buddies. We were up against the law and ,pretty much, the world. It seemed like everyone was after us. And the law/ world is just about everyone. So having only four of us up against (why don't we say A LOT!), oh so many, people, is kind of an unfair fight.

I know right now you're probably getting lost and thinking, "Why are there people after you?"

"Who else is there?"

"What can you shape shift into?"

Okay! I'm getting there! First of all, the other three are my friends. All are shape shifters. There's me, Elliot (my secret crush and best friend), Carter (the "leader" of our group), and Jackson (my brother).

We were being chased because some creeps (I'll explain later) who pretended to work for the law, had convinced everyone on the "force" that we were all psycho serial killers who planned to take over the world. And my 15-year-old mind had told me that that was a load of bull. Now me and my "family" were on the run. Not so much "run" as we were on a mission: a mission to prove these idiots wrong and claim a spot as "civilized half-human beings."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Those creeps I was talking about earlier were two of me and Jackson's best friends. They let us live at their home, eat their food, sleep in their beds, and borrow their clothes. We were all like one big family. But none of it was real, and as Jack said, "They set us up. Those evil scumheads of a family! Family my- you know what!" Then that was followed by a ton of cursing. But Jack was right, they did set us up. Apparently, they had only adopted us so that they could plot against our parents, who had given us up when they found out that we possessed the power to change into any animal we wished. At that time I thought that our parents were the scumheads, and I was so happy when the creeps adopted us. I had finally had a family again. Not only was it fake, it didn't last long. They adopted us when I was eight and Jack was eleven. We stayed with them for about two years. It just seemed too real to believe.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I felt like I was in a horror movie. Like the ones where the girl and the boy open the door when everyone knows that there's a killer on the other side. Then the girl opens it and the boy gets his head chopped off, then the girl screams bloody murder. That's how it was for me, except nobody got killed. But someone almost did. We had the S.W.A.T team screaming on our tails. It was a bit uneven, considering the fact that they had a van and we just had our powers and our legs to carry us over the huge bridge we were running over. "Hey! Carter!" I called. "Carter!" I had to practically scream over the loud racket underneath us. Carter turned to face me, his face dripping with sweat. He gave me a look that said, 'Riley what do you want?!'

"Let's take this one to the sky!" I yelled. All this screaming and yelling was making my throat sore. Carter nodded in agreement then motioned to Elliot and Jack. I closed my eyes and jumped off the bridge feeling the wind in my face. I clasped my beloved necklace in my hands and let my heart soar.

There was only one problem with shape shifting. It was majorly painful. I mean, think about it, having your skin ripped apart and bones changing position and form. But it's still pretty cool. Now I was a falcon. Peregrine falcon to be exact. I probably looked totally awesome, 'cause I felt pretty awesome. My heart suddenly skipped a beat when I heard the "whoosh!" of a totally huge rock being thrown at me. I quickly flew out of the way. Okay come on, what the hell?! That thing was so totally not a "huge rock", that thing was practically a boulder! Actually, no, "boulder" was a bit of an understatement... GLACIER! Yeah, "glacier" is better. Yep that thing was a glacier. A big rocky glacier. At the time I was lucky I didn't have my whole head taken off. There was one downside to dodging that glacier... someone else got hit. NOW I was in a horror movie. It seemed like it was in slow motion. I watched as the glacier plowed into Elliot and forced him toward the busy highway below us.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I screamed. Well, I guess it wasn't a scream as much as it was a screech. I mean, think about it, a falcon can't really scream. As I looked down I noticed that Elliot was out of my line of vision, considering the fact that peregrine falcons have spectacular eyesight. I hunched into the position for a perfect dive. My eyes watered as I reached speeds up to two hundred forty miles per hour. Elliot had finally come in my line of vision. He was clearly out cold. I had to go faster if I wanted to catch him before he hit the ground. Plus since he still had the glacier on top of him, it would kill him under the impact. I glanced to my left to see that Jack and Carter had the same idea as me. We had to hurry though, at the rate he was going, Elliot would be killed in less than fifteen seconds.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Time was my enemy. I really had to hurry now, Elliot was seconds away from all eternal hell. I had to do something, and fast. I reached for the glacier with my huge talons. I pushed as hard as I could, trying to move the boulder off of Elliot. I couldn't do it alone. I glanced over to where Jack was, he had to help me. And luckily he got my memo. Jack helped me push the boulder off of Elliot. And just in time. We grabbed Elliot's body quick enough to hear the loud boom of that glacier crashing into a huge truck on the highway. Man, I'd hate to be that guy.

Once we had landed we all changed back to normal. But Elliot was still out cold. I started to panic. What if he had a concussion? What if he was in a coma? What if he was... dead?! No! Stop it Riley! It was too much to think about. Suddenly Elliot's chest began to rise and fall at an alarming pace. "He's alive!" I screamed. "We need to take him to the hospital. He may be alive but he's already almost half-dead. Hey where's Carter?" Jack shrugged. I put my fingers in my ears. A loud blaring noise made my head pound. I had to squint just to see the three vehicles headed for us.

"What the hell?" Once the vehicles came closer to us I could see Carter sitting in the front seat of a red and white ambulance. He must've gone to get help. Jack picked Elliot up and we ran towards the ambulance. Two men in blue uniforms burst out of the ambulance and came running over to us. They placed Elliot's body on a long, white stretcher. I covered my mouth with my hands as I watched Elliot being wheeled away into the ambulance.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

For once in my life I did something I almost never had before. I cried. I felt my knees collapse under me as my heavily burdened body fell to the moist, cool Earth. Rocks stabbed my bare knees, where my jeans had ripped from previous fights. I screamed until my throat felt raw. "God please! Don't take him! Take me! He doesn't deserve to die! Take me instead! Take me instead!" I cried. My head began to pound and I felt sick. Carter laughed.

"I think the medics might have to take you next!" he laughed. That son of a gun. He knows Elliot could die and he's laughing?! I began to rise. For Elliot's sake I was gonna kick Carter's white American butt. I got up, my hair wet from the rain and my whole body for that matter.

"You are such a jerk!" I said, my bloody hands beginning to clench into fists. Carter stopped laughing.

"What- did you say?" he asked, walking towards me. I lunged forward and punched him in the face. Carter screamed.

"You're a freaking ass that should go to freaking hell!" I screamed. I punched him again, this time in the gut. "That one is for not caring!" Carter staggered back.

"What the hell are you talking about? Not caring? Well, that's a load of crap! I care about you guys more than I do myself! Think about it, Riley? Who went and got an ambulance to help Elliot? Me. Who found you and Jack and offered to care for you? Me. Who-" I cut him off. I knew all that junk and I didn't care. I was talking about now. I wasn't living in the past, Carter was.

"I don't care about that load of crap!" I screamed. "I wish you were dead, sometimes! Just die! Die instead of Elliot! Just die!"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I am a horrible, horrible person. I am such a jerk! I couldn't believe I had just said what I said to Carter. I was expected a punch to the gut or a kick to the shin, but no. I hate myself! I grabbed my necklace and pulled it off my neck. I threw it at Carter's feet and fell to the ground. I felt Carter looking down at me, then he grabbed my arms and pulled me up to my feet. "Riley," he began. "I'm not mad at you!" I looked up.

"What?!" I asked. "No... I mean... I'm sorry." Carter gently pulled me into a hug. Okay, this was getting too mushy. Then, Carter did something that freaked me out:

He tried to kiss me!

I pushed Carter away and glared at him. "What the hell man?!" I screamed.

"Riley, look I really like you," Carter said. "And I..." I slapped him across his sad little face.

"What?! No you can't love me! I love Elliot! And for all any of us know right now Elliot could be dying or even dead already! We need to follow that ambulance and make sure that Elliot is okay. It's his life on the line!" I yelled.


End file.
